User reviews

OK, never mind that this film seems to be 30 minutes of actual movie time, padded with another 33 minutes of stock footage (some of it swiped from 'One Million BC') process shots and traveling mattes. Never mind the 'emotional scientists', especially the blond housewife who goes to pieces so often she should have come pre-assembled like a box of Legos. Never mind the brain-dead science on display, where Planet Nova appears to be exactly like Wisconsin, except for the lemurs, giant bees, rubber alligators, and a lake with an island full of dinosaurs. Never mind that at one point, the blond lady says, "Maybe we don't need to keep watch. Joe (the lemur) seems to be pretty good at shouting alarms!"

I can get past all that, in the name of 50's sci-fi conventions and low budgets.

But 5-6 minutes from the end, after one couple has rescued the other from the cave where they were trapped, and the two 'dinosaurs' are wrestling with each other, the blond towheaded guy says, and I am pretty sure I got this right: "I brought the Atomic Bomb. I think this would be a good time to use it!"

So not only do the scientists nuke the island and kill everything on it for no good reason (the friggin dinosaurs never leave the island, and the party could have simply rowed away from the island and never seen the dinos again)...they set the timer for 30 MINUTES and trust they can get across the island ON FOOT past all the other dangerous wildlife, get into their rubber rafts, paddle them across the lake to the other shore and find shelter. In THIRTY FREAKING MINUTES!?!?

I realize this is just an excuse to try to inject some suspense into the ending, but for crying out loud! That timer clearly could have been for several hours, and the scientists could have STROLLED back, instead of running in a panic for their lives. (There is a hilarious shot in the rubber raft as they near shore where the towhead appears to be repeatedly shoving the blond lady back down on her face for no coherent reason.)

I feel bad for the four actors in this silly exercise in White Manifest Destiny. A couple of them went on the do a lot more work, but working on this thing must have seemed like a death-knell to their careers at the time. And if there was any justice, Bert Gordon wouldn't have had a career after this movie either.

1 star added to the deserved 'awful' rating for sheer goofiness, and also for the naiveté and optimism that permeates the film.

Yes, it really is THAT bad. Armadillos and stock footage standing in as dinosaurs, V2 launch films run in reverse to depict a landing, nuking the new planet to save it... well, I could go on.

Godon's later films, expecially the "Amazing Colossal" movies, provide great guilty pleasures. King Dinosaur, however, can't even provide that. And I had to watch it five times to be certain. It's interesting mainly for what it said about the movie-going public of 1954.

COULD BE ON THE 100 WORST LIST.

Scientists discover a new planet and decide to send an exploratory rocket with four scientists (two men and two women - how convenient) aboard. The planet closely resembles Earth with its breathable atmosphere, lush vegetation, and plethora of wildlife. The place seems simply ideal - that is, until they visit an island in the middle of a nearby lake. The island's inhabitants aren't as cute and cuddly as the lemur they've adopted and named Joe. The island is home to dinosaurs! Can our band of intrepid scientists escape the island before they become a snack?

One of the things I enjoy about 1950s sci-fi is that regardless of how bad or ridiculous a movie might be, these movies usually have a certain naive charm about them. That's not the case here. King Dinosaur has nothing that could remotely be called "charm". It's an abysmal mess. Even by Bert I. Gordon's standards it's a wretched movie (and if you're unfamiliar with Gordon's other works, those are some pretty low standards). The plot is pathetic. The acting is plain out pitiful. The depiction of the "scientists" and "science" is ludicrous. The special effects are a laugh-out-loud joke. The staged lizard/iguana/alligator fights are reprehensible. At least half the movie is composed of stock footage. And the movie is such a technical mess that I'm surprised this bunch of bozos was even able to get it on film. I'm racking my brain, but I've got absolutely nothing positive to say.

But the most ridiculous moment in King Dinosaur (and one of the most ridiculous moments in movie history) comes about 5 minutes before the movie's end. Before the four "scientists" leave the island, one of them says, "I brought the atom bomb. I think it's a good time to use it." Huh? What did he just say? You mean he's been carrying an atomic weapon around like a loaf of bread? Carrying around food, water, or . . . oh I don't know . . . scientific equipment might make sense, but an atom bomb? I could even see carrying some sort of small hand-held weapon for self defense, but a nuclear warhead? It's got to be one of the most ridiculous moments ever put on film.

First of all, let me clear up a frequently sighted misconception: only two brief scenes were taken from the 1940's "One Million, B.C.". The scene with a wooly mammoth trying to shake off the fake fur and another bit with a Komodo dragon sticking it's tongue out for the camera. THAT'S IT! All of the iguana scenes were filmed especially for "KING DINOSAUR".

This is an unbelievable time capsule of a movie. It has all of the popular science fiction elements: Space travel, dinosaurs, and atomic bombs. Filmed during a weekend at Bronson's Canyon in Hollywood, this bit of cinematic tripe should give hope to any aspiring film maker. The fact that it was produced and actually released in theaters is an amazement.

It only has a cast of four people (the other glimpses of humans are from military stock footage). The dialogue is ridiculous. The acting is poor. The handling of animals is cruel. The entire plot doesn't have a single thread of reality in it. If you view a particular scene with the salamander you'll see a human hand holding onto the reptile's tail. If you view the scene where the iguana is first encountered, you'll see the actress get her head shoved into a rock and wince in very real pain. You'll find dozens of contrived scenes and numerous examples of impossibilities that are shrugged off by the scientific quartet.

I love this movie! This film ranks up there with the Marx Brothers "Duck Soup" as one I could view repeatedly and not get bored. There is just something about it. It's the equivalent of a ten car pile-up on the freeway. You are dumbfounded by the carnage. You want to look away, but you can't. You see so much in such a brief time.

This is a perfect example of the "So bad it's good" movie genre. You'll catch small errors in continuity and fact through repeated viewings. Completely silly from start to finish without intending to be. The final line is bloated with irony. Did the lead actor mean for the line to be interpreted sarcastically or with pride? You be the judge!

I confess!

I liked this move when I first saw it.

(I was seven in 1955.)

As I recall, an asteroid had passed near the earth and made some stir in the news before this movie appeared. I suspected that was the inspiration of the plot.

(OK so THIS plot was NOT inspired in any way, shape or form. Waddaya gonna do, sue a seven year old kid?)

To a seven year old, an iguana propped up on its hind legs did a passable impersonation of a tyrannosaurus.

When I saw the movie again on MST3K, well, . . . . hey, I was seven and it was cool to me in the 1950s.

(Updt 19 Aug 2014: I found a copy of the 1957 World Book Annual Supplement (events of 1956) at the local book fair (the family 1955 World Book set w. supplements up to the 1960s was abandoned in a move in 1996). There it was: news of the near-earth asteroid Geographos discovered in 1951 named in 1956, predicted to pass 4 million miles from Earth in 1969. But barely 5 by 2 kilometers.)

"King Dinosaur" takes place on a new planet that has entered our solar system. Four astronauts are sent from Earth to explore it. The plot is about what happens to them during this exploration. The science that the kids saw while watching this movie must make science teachers cringe. Everything about this new planet is laughable and the explorers are a joke. It's just like being in the woods on Earth. The monsters are ordinary earth animals and insects. Some are enlarged, some have fins or other things put on them to change their appearance and some are just the way they look on Earth. Throw in some stock footage and you have "King Dinosaur". The astronauts are more on a camping trip than investigating a new planet. The two men are macho and the two women scream a lot. The so called special effects were bad in 1955 and are just laughable today. The main attraction to this movie is the humor you can find in it. The only entertainment value I found with this film was seeing how naive the characters were and how badly done the dinosaurs were. Oddly enough, it is bad enough to make it worth watching. It's good for laughs and to see what was around in the 50s. I wouldn't count on much more.

This has to be one of the worst of the "B' movies. Idiotic plot,cheesy special effects,wooden acting. So many plot holes in this one:first,how does a planet just manage to enter our system without colliding with everything in its path(and with nobody noticing),and then conveniently park itself next to Earth? Next,if this new planet is so close to us,why does it take the rocket 4 months to get there? Why are all the animals so familiar? Then those gosh-awful "dinosaurs"! Blow up shots of an iguana,a caiman and a gila monster,"fighting" each other(tho I am curious if those were real fights,and if the caiman and gila were really killed,in which case it's cruelty to animals) Finally,how could they have possibly paddled a leaky rubber life raft far enough to escape being caught in the bomb's explosion? I remember this turkey being double billed with Monster From Green Hell,another clunker of the B variety,on Saturday morning TV.

A lot of people think King Dinosaur was the first movie from Bert I Gordon. It isn't. This is the second (the first was Serpent Island in 1954).

A new planet, Nova, is discovered in the solar system and an expedition consisting of two scientist couples is sent to it. When they get there, they discover a planet similar to earth and inhabited by unfriendly creatures. They are attacked by giant insects, giant snakes and alligators.

These creatures are the least of their worries though. They decide to explore an island they discover across a lake and when they get there, they discover a land unchanged since prehistoric times. Roaming this land are giant lizards, woolly mammoths and a giant armadillo. Some of these creatures are stock footage from One Million BC. After being attacked by these creatures and the King Dinosaur of the title (a giant lizard pretending to be a T-Rex) they decide to blow the island up with an atomic bomb and blast off back to Earth.

Despite bad reviews and the low budget, I rather enjoyed this movie.

Rating 3 and a half stars out of 5.

Bert I. Gordon's Long-Lived Career Began His Directorial Credits with this Mad-Movie.

It High-Lights Many of His and Other (Ed Wood) Wannabee Movie-Makers Ineptitude.

Those that Made a Name and had More Chutzpah than Talent.

Although if Persevering on One's Goal can be Considered a Talent Mr. BIG and Ed Wood Certainly had Plenty of that.

The Main Ingredients of "Bad Movie" Stuff is Plentiful in this Oft-Cited Primitive Picture.

Over-Reliance of Stock Footage. Limited Camera Movement, Cheapest of SFX, and Cliched Character Traits.

Brain-Numbing Declarations made by "Scientists" that are Absent Against Fact.

To Say More would Take what "Fun" this Type Offers, Out of the Equation.

There is a Good Deal of Outrage among Commentators about the Reptiles Representing "Dinosaurs" and their Mistreatment and Mishandling to Induce Desired Carnage.

That is a Valid Criticism and Further Facilitates the Unprofessional Nature of the Production Team.

Concerned Mainly on the "Bottom Line" and a Willful Abandonment of Other, more Sensitive, but Important Issues.

Overall, a Very Crude Beginning for Mr. BIG.

It Reeks of "Amateur-Hour.

Absent some of the Most Basic Elements of Movie-Making.

There are a Lot of Considerations Packed in this One Hour Movie.

Some Entertaining and Some Cringe-Inducing.

Because there is an Enormous Amount to Stimulate the Senses,

Some Intentional and Some Not. All of the Hoopla and Ballyhoo make this...

Worth a Watch.

The movie starts with the narrator rattling off dates like they matter. That's the best thing about this movie.

Now, I did not expect this film to be good. I already knew of its bad repution, and the fact that it is was the first film by Bert I Gorden, I was already prepared to watch a bad film. KING DINOSAUR was actually even worse than I expected! All of the Bert Gordens films that I have seen are all bad, but at least I can find one or two good things to say about them. Not here! Even the opening sequence is dull. Narrator Marvin Miller tells us that a new planet has found its way in the Earths galaxy (sic). Scientists speculate the new planet, which they name "Nova" might be habitable, so plans for a manned flight to the new planet are planned. These plans are shown to us entirely with stock footage As bad as later Gorden films are, I have always felt many of his films like THE AMAZING COLOSSAL and WAR OF THE COLOSSAL BEAST do open well. Perhaps this is the only lesson Gorden has learned from KING DINOSAUR during his long dubious career. The crew consisting of two men and two women arrive on the new planet in a super-imposed V2. WE see no shots of the inside of the ship. The crew exists the rocket and finds the planet to be...well (surprise!) just like good old planet Earth. As the crew wanders around, stock shots of normal animals like bears, moose, geese, tigers, a normal size caiman which one of the crew wrestle with like Tarzan. The crew also adopts a friendly kinkajou (?) they come upon whom they name Joe. In one scene they encounter a poor marco photographed mole cricket which briefly menaces the crew but is quickly dispatched by bullets. They then decide to explore an island that lies in the middle of a lake. I suppose since Gorden figured that King Kong lived on an island inhabited by dinosaurs, he would place his dinosaurs on an island. Hey, the film does have "king" in the title. Upon arriving on the island the crew is menaced by an oversized iguana and a few other enlarged lizards. Before fleeing the island they set the timer off on an atom bomb. Yes! An atom bomb! As they flee the island they are chased by the giant lizards, a stock shot of a mata mata turtle, and a stock footage shot of a woolly elephant from ONE MILLION B.C. They make it shore and the bomb goes off. Someone says the planet is now safe for civilization.

Why would the crew of a rocketship sent to explore a new planet bring along a an atom bomb? Because Bert Gorden probably wanted his film to end things with a bang and atom bombs do make a big bang. How does nukeing a puny island with a few dinosaurs bring civilization? What makes them think that this is only spot on the whole planet where dinosaurs live? Would not scientists back on Earth be interested in studying this abnormal zoology? Off the island they were menaced by a giant cricket. Will future Earth rockets come to nuke the rest of the planet? Did Gorden or anyone involved in the making of this film care? Why do I even bother to ask? How did I ever find this much to say about this rotten film?

Whoa. Bert I Gordon shows the proper misuse of stock footage and movies. How long could I keep watching switches and buttons being pressed? Oh, and of course a space expedition with 2 men and 2 women just to keep the romance interest (ugh). They land in a nice national park in California and proceed to bore you. The King turns out to be a lame lizard who likes the taste of astronauts. The acting award goes to the lemur or whatever the hell that creature was. ASPCA would've had a field day with the manhandling of the poor thing. It was yanked and tossed around like a rag doll.

Folks, beware of the films of Bert I Gordon

Although he's universally (and righteously) considered as one of the worst directors in history, I admit to be a fan of the notorious B.I.G! No, not the murdered gangster-rapper, but the writer/director/producer of several inept and incredibly low-budgeted horror and Sci-Fi movies during the 50's, 60's and 70's. "King Dinosaur" was his debut feature in 1955 and it still stands as probably the worst dinosaur movie there is to find (yes, there are a lot more of them than you might think). "King Dinosaur" contains all the bad and laughable elements that the MST3K crowd enjoys so much: horrible acting performances, a thoroughly idiotic script and dumb dialogs, footage that is borrowed from equally bad films, cheap set pieces and small, harmless animals that are ridiculously enlarged in order to look like gigantic menacing creatures. The film nevertheless starts promising and in a typically 1950's manner, with a stern voice-over informing us that an entirely new and never before noticed (!) planet has entered our solar system. Earth has got a new neighbor and all the great intellectual minds agree that this new planet – Nova – has the same inhabitable atmosphere. The good old US of A promptly puts together a space expedition featuring four scientists; two men and two women that are romantically involved. FOUR people, none of whom have any astronaut experience, is apparently enough for the most important mission of all time! When they arrive on Nova, it actually looks like they accidentally landed somewhere in Montana. There are forests, lakes, deer and honey bears. One of the crew members even wrestles with a crocodile! Only around two-thirds into the film, half of the mission's crew heads out to a volcanic island on the planet and comes face to face with the titular King Dinosaur. Two-thirds! Don't name your film "King Dinosaur" if the dinosaur is only a footnote in the whole stupid thing! Anyways, the character states that he resembles a T- Rex, but in fact it's an ordinary lizard filmed through a magnifying glass. He's supposed to be a relentless monster, but it's a damn lizard and they can't act, so he actually looks kind of cute and completely unaware of what he's doing. As said, this is one hopelessly inept hodgepodge of a film. 50's Sci-Fi flicks, as silly and cheap they generally are, have a certain enchantment value. "King Dinosaur", however, has no such thing whatsoever. It's a dumb ensemble of moronic plotting, unsympathetic characters and rubbish special effects. I would still warmly recommended it to bad cinema fanatics, though, because there are too many idiotic details to list! And at least the film is never boring, like so many of its contemporary genre colleagues.

A new planet moves into our solar system and four scientists (two couples) are sent to explore Planet Nova. In between romantic interludes, the cast faces an iguana masquerading as a Tyrannosaurus Rex.

This is just bad, no bones about it. With the poster art, and the title, you would think this would be about a dinosaur. But it is not. Nope. Somehow a planet identical to Earth is near the real Earth, so four people wander it while stock footage of different animals play in the background. Then, when you think there might be a dinosaur, it is just an iguana with Gordon's usual silly tricks of making animals look big.

Although the lemur was cute, that hardly redeems this stinker.

This is one of the worst 'monster island' type early fifties cheapies. It's note worthy only, however, for the mind boggling ending. This time the 'monster island' is actually a new Earth like planet, Nova, that has suddenly appeared near the Earth. The premise, development, dialog and acting are full of laughable 'science' making this an outstanding choice for Mystery Science Theater 3000. For some this also means it qualifies for the "So bad, it's good," category, but this is just plain bad film making. The great 'SBIG' movies, like Ed Wood's 'Citizen Kane,' 'Glen or Glenda' (1953) or 'Plan 9 From Outer Space' (1959) have absurd or unique qualities in the writing, photography, use of stock footage and acting.

You always hope that the dinosaurs in these films will not be men in monster suits as in 'Unknown Island' (1948), or close ups of iguanas and salamanders. But no-- there are the iguanas, but we also get a gila monster and a Kodomo dragon (monitor lizard).

It was Roger Corman who broke ground by creating his own monsters for his mid fifties science fiction films, definitely the peaks of the fifties genre with such wonders as 'The Day the World Ended,' (1955), the amazing story of the Ultimate Collaborator (Lee Van Cleef) in the under rated 'It! Conquered the World,' (1956), 'Not of This Earth' (1957), and 'Attack of the Crab Monsters' (1957), leading the way. But not Bert I. Gordon.

Usually when the characters first land and see a volcano, you know that at the end of the movie, the volcano is going to explode and destroy the island, a cliché done to death in countless movies (and serials) since the 1930s. But wait! This one ends differently! As two of the four scientists rush to the island to save the others, the man is lugging a rectangular box, and as they are reunited, running away from the 'dinosaurs' he says "I brought an atomic bomb. This is a good time to use it!" !! He sets the timer for 30 minutes, and they escape in rubber rafts to the mainland, hiding behind a knoll just as the A-Bomb goes off. As the mushroom cloud rises and blooms, one man says to the other, "Well, we did it!" The other replies, "Yes, we certainly did! We brought civilization to Nova!"

Your jaw drops in disbelief. The unintentional meaning of this according to our current reading (i.e., Civilization equals destruction by man-- see also the Catholic Church's list of new sins; Oppenheimer's naming the bomb Shiva, and the new definition of man as the species destroying the earth through global warming and causing extinction of other species) must be in stark contrast to the fifities' meanings, I'm assuming, which must combine "wiping out evils paves the way for civilization," and America's ability to wield such a weapon 'proves' that we are the forefront of 'civilization,' both referenced by our dropping of the A-Bomb on Japan.

Is that what they were thinking? Other than the ending, this movie was not absurd or well written enough to merit more than a 1.

NOTE: The current DVD version has another Lippert production, 'The Jungle' (1952), supposedly filmed in India, with a great Indian sound track, and some pre-Bollywood native dancing. Filmed in sepia, it's a better film.

Gordon's debut film certainly gave no indication of his longevity within the fantasy genre: while it is not in the same awful league as, say, ROBOT MONSTER (1953) or Ed Wood's entire body of work, it is all the worse for being dishonest! One simply cannot play up the notion of a gigantic prehistoric creature, and then provide your audience with nothing more than a magnified lizard – to say nothing of having the gall to describe it as being akin to a Tyrannosaurus Rex! For what it is worth, the premise (scripted by Tom Gries!) of an Earth-like planet surfacing in our solar system which, when inspected, is found to still be in its infancy i.e. the age of dinosaurs and active volcanoes (though, thankfully, we do not get to see monosyllabic caveman roaming about) was not too shabby. However, like I noted before, if the budget does not extend to at least a competent level of special effects (after copious stock footage had already served for the space flight with, amusingly, an utter dearth of shots displaying the astronauts inside the vessel!), it would have been better to undertake a more manageable venture in the first place! As it stands, even if barely lasting an hour, the running-time is padded-out with a plethora of scenes revolving around the things I hate most in life: in fact, reptiles of all varieties put in an appearance here (with a particular astronaut being the brunt of most attacks, including a one-on-one with an alligator and – genuinely heart-stopping – being slithered all over by a giant dark-skinned snake)! The titular monster, then, shows his dominance over the rest by winning out in separate combats with another crocodile and an iguana. Perhaps the most outrageous element of all is the decision by the heroes to nuke the place (why would they even require a nuclear weapon during a scouting mission…for what right do humans have to destroy the life-form of another world, however hostile its reception?!) – but, of course, with no harm done to themselves – when they prove unable to overcome "King Dinosaur"!

The only good thing I can can say about Mr. Gordon's attempt at SciFi is that I like the title. In fact, I watched this dog one night on the late show because of the title. Imagine, King Dinosaur: can't images of raging T.rex's engaged in predatory battle with velociraptors, alliosaurs or gigantosaurs, flood your inner eyeballs at the name! Then, what do you get? Inane dialogue, terrible acting by no-name actors, scatologically inspired writing and a complete absence of anything amounting to a story or plot-line that would appeal to anyone other than a cretin. My cat could have written a better screenplay. Where did Gordon get the $$ to fund this piece of fecal discard? That's the only part that I find amazing about this film. Bert Gordon and Ed Wood added something to the world of film making, although I don't know if Mr. Gordon ever went in for cross-dressing. While I rarely give a film a(n) 'uno,' this one clearly deserved it. It's a stinker...and there's a video available too? Well, will wonders ever cease?

In Director Bert I. Gordon's KING DINOSAUR, a mysterious new planet enters our solar system, very close to Earth. So, after seemingly endless stock footage and voice-over narration, a V2 rocket blasts off to explore this strange orb. A group of scientists -two men and two women- land and disembark, in what appears to be someone's back yard. Thankfully, this planet is so Earth-like that our heroes can dispense with their spacesuits.

Then, the walking begins. Lots of walking. Next, it's time to camp for the night, and a little romance, as well as a bit of alligator pummeling. Next day, more walking.

Mr. Gordon's opus is more like a jungle movie than a sci-fi yarn, with big snakes and cute furry animals. There are even jungle sounds in the background that would make Tarzan feel right at home. After more endless tedium, the scientists head for an island, where they encounter the titular lizard (aka: a super-imposed iguana).

The real "action" starts when the iguana takes on a caiman, and another random reptile, in an unnecessary display of animal cruelty. However, it does break up the dullness.

At just over an hour in length, this movie still feels eternal. A true gem for the connoisseur of utter nonsense...